Starry Starry Night

Last week I elevated my travelling fiber hoarder status to a new level by journeying with some friends to Rhinebeck. Rhinebeck, NY, is the home of the Dutchess County Sheep & Wool Growers Association. Up until now I've just been going to the Hemlock Fiber Festival in Hemlock, NY, but I had a little free time and a bee in my bonnet about going to something a little bigger. So my friends Denise, Channyn and Linda headed out with me for some fun in Dutchess County.

So, I found a fewwww things I liked. The purchase that I found most interesting was fiber called Starry Night, from Tintagel Farm. It's a blend of 45% Mohair, 45% Wool, 10% Llama, and Angelina. The vendor created this lovely fiber based on Vincent Van Gogh's famous painting:

 

My friend Channyn says I need to show you the full evolution of the fiber, so here's what it looked like at the festival. You can see why it caught my attention. I loved the idea of taking colors from a painting and making fiber with that blend of colors. It seemed like such a creative idea. I'd like to try that myself, so now I need to ponder how I might go about it.

 

 

I spun it up on my drop spindles. So, a pound of fiber filled up four big drop spindles.

 

 

 

And then I plied it. Four balls of yarn doesn't go very far, in my humble opinion, so when I was plying, I tried a couple of different ideas. First, I plied the single to itself. And second, I tried plying to another single with another fiber I've been working with. The second fiber, a slate blue, is 50% pygora 50% cashgora. The pygora/cashgora blend is from Firefly Farm. While the Starry Night single was pretty soft, the pygora/cashgora blend was even softer. I thought it would make a yarn with a softer handle, and it did:

 

 

So adding in the slate blue definitely softened the color. The slate blue plied with Starry Night is on the right:

 

Here's all the yarn I made. Personally, I don't see a lot of difference between the two yarns. I'll bet you can't tell which is which in this picture:

 





And then I knit both up into a swatch, which nearly sent me into a coma, because knitting does that to me. The section circled in yellow is the two ply yarn with one ply Starry Night and the other the Pygora/Cashgora blend, and the rest is the two ply of Starry Night:

Pre-Small Business Saturday: What'ja Get?

The plan: go to the bank, take out a wee bit of money to cover an angora transaction with my friend Cheryl, go to the Genesee Valley Hand Spinner's Guild meeting, make the exchange, take a brief glance around, and then leave. It was all... so... simple.

So, I get there, and Cheryl says, "So, did you want all of it, or part of it?" And I said, "All, of course", and rolled my eyes expressively. We met out in the parking lot, did the exchange, and I put the goods in my car. If spinning was illegal, we'd be arrested by now, as I parked right in front of the Victor police.

With my car full of soft stuff, you would have thought I'd have been done, but then I spotted Pat Gesler of Firefly Farms, and by the time I was done with her, I was down to $6 and some loose change. And even then, I thought about spending the last $6, but I figured that after you go back to someone's table three times, you really need to stop. I don't want to look like a fiber stalker, after all.

So what'd I get? Plenty.

First, I bought soap. Pat makes this super nice soap that has luffa inside. What an invention! I buy some soap every time I see her, and highly recommend it.

And then there was some roving. I'd been trolling the websites lately looking for maroon roving, and there it was, sitting within range of sight. So I bought some. And then some more after I found some money in my pockets. I stopped short of buying it all, but that's only because I ran out of money. There are 7 more balls waiting for me. I've got my eye on them too.

Well, of course I dragged it all home and started spinning. What a rich maroon color! And this is cashgora and pygora blended together. Both are rather rare goats with very soft coats. I looked Pat in the eye and said, "Now, let's just keep this between you and me: please don't tell my husband." And she said that until you came home with an animal, instead of just fiber, there really wasn't much to talk about. Apparently she's acquired a few goats that way.

Now, what to make with my treasure? I looked outside and couldn't help but notice that my brother's truck was a perfect match for my new maroon cashgora/pygora blend:

I'd make my brother something, or find someone to make him something, but somehow he doesn't seem the type to want to own luxury fiber scarves or mittens that match his truck. So I'll have to think about it. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, let me know. I'm spinning very thin this time, motivated by my fellow guildmembers, who spin very nicely thin all the time.